


Homework and High Tea

by daddyzanchez



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic, Feelings Realization, Fluff and Humor, Gavin is a father, M/M, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2020-09-28 21:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20432699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daddyzanchez/pseuds/daddyzanchez
Summary: Gavin is hesitant to bring work home due to never having told Nines about having a daughter. Nines takes it as an opportunity to learn but soon finds himself at a tea party whilst questioning why Gavin is looking at him like that...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally my very first fic for this fandom, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it. Have some confused feelings, a children's tea party and Nines wearing a paper hat.

“I should tell you-” Gavin said as he was unlocking the front door to his apartment, “-I might not have been totally honest with you.”

Nines furrowed his brow, eyes briefly skimming over the detective’s feature to analyse the little twitches of his eyes. He was nervous, heart rate slightly elevated, as one would expect a human to feel when they were about to confess something. It was personal, Nines concluded.

“Oh?” He simply replied, waiting patiently for Detective Reed to let them inside. He was fiddling a bit too long with the lock, a mix between caffeine addiction and anxiety but right now, Nines figured that the man just wasn’t used to guests. It wouldn’t be off to assume such a thing about the man; he did not strike as the type to host dinner parties with his big group of friends. Oh, the horror he was expecting now. For a moment, Nines considered turning off his smelling sensors. 

“Well, what have you not told me?” 

Reed finally pushed the door open, looking like he was thinking over what to say. He only managed to open his mouth before they were interrupted.

“Daddy!” A girl’s voice was heard, and seconds later, the little human ran towards them. She had her arms in the air as she welcomed Gavin home, who in return reached down to pick her up.

Nines scanned her face briefly, resulting in a very human reaction; his eyebrows went up in surprise. 

_ Eleanor Rose Reed, 24th of June, 2034. _

“There you are,” Gavin positioned her on his hip and then  _ grinned _ . He was actually grinning completely genuinely, a thing that was such a rarity for Nines that he even felt slightly grumpy about it. After being partners for at least a few months, he had never earned such a human reward from the man. 

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Another voice to categorise was heard, a teenage girl stepping into the hallway with them. She was young, a redhead, wearing overalls and a black sweater, “I told her you were bringing work home, but she still wanted to say hi. She’s had dinner but she wanted to stay up until you were home.”

_ Lisa Caulfield, 6th of April, 2021. Not related, probably a babysitter.  _

“That’s fine, Lisa,” Gavin pecked his daughter’s small blonde head, “How about we call it a day? How much do I owe you?”

Nines was silent in the background, observing with much interest how humans interacted with each other. Lisa looked grateful to be let off early, thanking Gavin over and over as she headed to get her bag, and meanwhile the little girl in Gavin’s arms squirmed to get his attention again. It was clear she had missed her father. 

They had been so close to a breakthrough in the last hours of workhours, and as much as it would come as a surprise to others, Gavin was too ambitious about his job to let it wait. He had eventually suggested bringing the files to his home but looked hesitant when Nines insisted on coming along. Now he knew why, and Eleanor already seemed like she would highly compromise their afternoon of detective work; paperwork and stringing clues together. 

And it was already starting as soon the door closed after Lisa. Eleanor’s head turned towards him and she narrowed her eyes, looking back to her father and then back to Nines once more, “Who are you?”

Gavin’s cheeks went slightly pink, but Nines figured that there was no harm in introducing himself. Nines wasn’t used to children, and whilst he was made to adapt to human nature, he never really got a refined programming of how to handle kids. He held out his hand, “Ms. Reed, I am an android model RK900 designed by Cyberlife. I am assisting your father at work, we are partners. Pleased to meet you.”

The detective’s eyes crinkled around the edges, a smile playing on his lips that showed that he was trying not to burst into laughter. Eleanor’s eyes didn’t go less suspicious, and she did not take his hand at all but eventually buried her face in Gavin’s shoulder.

Nines frowned at the feeling of rejection. He let his hand fall to the side again, looking to his partner in confusion, “Detective Reed. Did I do something wrong?”

“It’s okay, Ellie,” Gavin said as he bounced her a little on his arm, “Nines here is completely harmless.”

“ _ Harmless? _ ” Nines tried not to sound offended, but that definition was just plain wrong, “I’ll let you know that I am the reason RK800 went out of production. I’m stronger, faster and my fighting program is much more complex. I could ki-”

The look he received from his partner told him that he had said something wrong once again, and the way that Eleanor looked at him out of the corner of his eye made him register that he had scared her. Coming to think about it, Nines realised that Gavin was still using a real human instead of a babysitting-android that was provided for families with small kids, so naturally Eleanor’s encounters with androids were limited. 

“You can say hi,” Gavin encouraged and broke the awkward silence, shifting her to his other hip so they were all closer together. 

Eleanor lifted her head slowly and chose to wave at him instead of shaking his hand. Nines looked to Gavin who gave him a pointed look, a sharp gaze that told him to do this  _ or else _ . 

Nines waved back and in return, he got a big toothy grin. He was new to deviancy, having been awoken in a post-revolution world, and whilst Connor had tried to explain what feelings were, it had never really gotten under his skin like this smile was doing right now. In his core programming, something stirred at the sight of the child smiling and Nines understood why humans adored children as much as they did. She was rather cute like that.

The android caught his partner smiling at their interaction, and Nines ended up catching himself smiling too.

Reed put his daughter down onto the floor again, kneeling down beside her. He gently laid a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her attention when she was too busy staring at the RK900-model with a clear peaked interest. When he finally had to turn her head towards him, he looked very serious, “Ellie, listen to me. Nines and I are going to do some very important work in the living room, so I want you to be quiet, okay? Can you do that?”

Eleanor looked hesitant, “But I want to play.”

“Not now but I promise later,” Gavin ran his hand over her hair, voice a lot softer than Nines had ever heard, “Is that okay?”

Eleanor nodded at last. It didn’t take her long to accept it because she was soon beaming at the very fact that she was going to spend her day with an android in her house. Nines was new territory, and given that Gavin was comfortable around him made Eleanor realise that she could be too. It didn’t help that she came off as a very curious kid.

“I think we’re all good,” Gavin finally said when Eleanor ran off to her bedroom, “Let me get my laptop and you can transmit the data onto it.”

* * *

A part of an RK900-model’s programming was to be able to sense enemies despite them not being in direct line of sight. When Gavin and Nines were out in the field, he could sense the presence of their perpetrator by activating his thermal sensors when his instincts told him to do so.

Nines was surprised when his programming told him to activate it in the middle of Gavin Reed’s living room. They were being watched very closely and whilst Gavin had his nose in the computer files, Nines chose to look around until he saw a pair of curious eyes watching him.

Eleanor was hiding, or at least trying to, behind the door to the kitchen. In her hand, she had a stuffed animal that she clutched close to her chest when she occasionally peeped out to observe them working.

Nines decided to look her way until she peeked out once again, her eyes widening in horror as she was caught. They shared eye contact briefly but Nines made sure not to come off as threatening in any way. 

The result amazed him. Adult humans would have looked away quickly, he decided, but Eleanor chose to wave at him like before. There was no embarrassment, no shame.

“Nines?  _ Nines, _ ” Gavin interrupted their encounter. The android turned his attention back to his partner.

“Sorry,” Nines furrowed his brow, “I guess I got distracted for a moment.”

“Wha-?” Gavin looked puzzled but when Nines’ eyes went back to Eleanor, he sighed, “Ellie. What did daddy say?”

Eleanor stepped out from her hiding spot, approaching the two of them with her eyes at her feet. She squeezed the teddy bear tightly, dragging it across the floor behind her, ”Why don’t you want to play with me?”

“I need to finish this, sweetie. It won’t be much longer,” Gavin reassured but Eleanor simply looked up, gaze going from her father to Nines and back to her father again, and then started tearing up.

Nines raised a brow at the clear manipulation techniques she was displaying. Her vitals showed no sign of actual distress, and he concluded that what she was practising was what humans liked to call  _ crocodile tears _ . 

Without engaging in fear of what Detective Reed would say, he watched the interaction between the two of them, analysing Gavin’s changing body language as Eleanor started to wail, and, as the volume started to increase, Nines started to think that the child had actually convinced herself that she was upset. He turned his audio processor down by 40%. 

Nines didn’t think he had ever seen as many shifting emotions on a human being as he was seeing on Gavin right now. Not even the criminals they brought in for questioning could go through such a range of emotions in such a small amount of time; Gavin looked sad, frustrated, tired, angry, downright pained as he tried to console Eleanor as best as he could. He eventually settled on giving in, the usual bags under his eyes telling Nines that he normally did not have much sleep and therefore not much energy to pick a fight. 

“I guess we could have a little break,” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “But it’s not going to be long. This is very important, Ellie, sweetie.”

Eleanor went from crying to smiling dangerously quick, running towards her bedroom whilst yelling for the both of them to follow. Gavin pushed himself to stand. 

“Detective Reed, if I must say,” Nines began as he followed, hearing Gavin sigh immediately after the words had left his mouth, “You’re being too soft. She’s playing you this very moment.”

“When you have had to deal with a crying child for four years, you can come to me,” Reed replied sharply.

“I think a much better approach wou-”

“Just shut up for once, tin can.”

* * *

Nines had never seen a children’s bedroom before but gathering new information about humans was not an opportunity he would ever turn down. In fact, he felt relieved to be able to do something else than sitting in Detective Reed’s sofa whilst painfully watching the non-existent cogs in his brain turn.

The room was… chaotic, pink and stuffed to the brim with toys in whatever place that had just the tiniest amount of unoccupied space. The bed was smaller than the ones he had seen, and underneath the mattress was a nook with blankets, stuffed toys, what he guessed was boxes of child amusements and lastly, a string of fairy lights that glowed a warm yellow.

From the ceiling hung a pink sheer curtain that draped over the sides of the raised bed to give off an illusion of something from fairy tales. The amount of dresses, pink and tiaras gave Nines the idea that Eleanor was interested in the, albeit wrongly represented, idea of princesses. 

It was clear that Gavin spoiled his daughter  _ a lot  _ by buying or doing whatever she wanted. After all, he had already seen her in action when she was pleading her father to give up valuable worktime. He contemplated telling Detective Reed that this was not how to change her behaviour, in fact he encouraged it by giving in. 

He pushed the thought away for later as his hand was grabbed. Eleanor looked displeased at how he had not been paying attention, tugging him towards the other end of the room where a tiny round table with equally tiny chairs was set with a what seemed to be a plastic tea set. It was miniature like the rest of the room, made specifically to fit into the hand of a child, and Nines had to raise a brow as Eleanor tried to get him to sit down. 

“Just sit down,” Gavin’s voice was a tiny sigh, this clearly not being his first time at the rodeo. Gavin pointed to the chair beside him, and Nines realised that it was the only chair that wasn’t reserved or occupied by dolls and teddies.

“Welcome,” Eleanor finally said in a comically serious tone. Whilst Nines and Gavin had, dreadingly, seated themselves, she had managed to put on a tiara and was now standing with her hands folded in front of herself, “Put on your princess crowns.”

Nines looked down, and sure enough a paper hat was lying next to his teeny tiny cup. He glanced at Gavin who grimaced, and Nines could feel a smile tug at his lips. There was something pleasing about seeing the man in such a vulnerable,  _ pretty _ and silly position quite contrary to what he usually radiated.

Nines made sure the paper hat could not fall off, happy to join in on whatever the child had planned for them, especially if it meant that he was going to see his co-worker out of his comfort zone; now that was something to relish in while he had the chance. 

Gavin looked down at his silver plastic tiara, glancing at Nines briefly before staring down at the headpiece again. He reluctantly picked it up and put it on his head but Eleanor seemed to think he was too slow.

“You have to do it, daddy!” She complained, crawling onto the last free chair. 

“Detective Reed, you’re royalty,” Nines mocked him, pointing to the stuffed animals accompanying them to high tea who were already wearing something on their heads, “I think you should act like it.”

“The meeting of princesses has adjourned, and tea break has started,” Reed simply said with a forced smile and Eleanor clapped her hands. She reached for the teapot, pouring what seemed to be air into her cup.

It made Gavin clear his throat, “Princess Eleanor, don’t you think that you should serve some of your delicious tea to your guests first? I think Cyber Princess is starving for some.”

“Cyber Princess,” Nines repeated, weighing the title. He was satisfied.

“Y-yes!” Eleanor jumped off her chair. Nines thanked the Gods that there wasn’t actually freshly brewed and scalding hot tea in the pot because with the way she was holding it whilst running to his side, she would’ve gotten a third-degree burn.

As soon as Nines had been served his air-tea, he did what seemed natural and lifted the way too small cup to his lips. Children were known for their imagination, that much he knew, so acting along with her fantasy would be a sure way of winning points. 

“Delicious,” he said after sipping, “Is that lavender I am tasting?”

Eleanor’s eyes lit up at the mention of a flower, nodding eagerly. She poured more into his cup, “Do you like it or do you love it?”

“I like it very much,” he replied, looking out of the corner of his eye. Detective Reed was staring at him, but something was different; whereas there was always a hint of wariness in his eyes when he was around the android, there was now not a shred of it left. Instead his eyes were soft, crinkling slightly around the edges and Nines was certain he could spot a glimpse of adoration instead. Nines checked his vitals, and whilst his pulse was slightly elevated, he seemed totally at ease, comfortable even. He could get used to that.

Meanwhile, Eleanor had started serving the rest of the princesses around the table, chatting and complimenting each and every one of the stuffed toys. Nines took the opportunity to lean close to Gavin, “So… What exactly do we do now? Is this it?”

“You’re really good with her,” Gavin replied, eyes widening as if he hadn’t expected those words to come out of his own mouth. He swallowed, pretending to cough and then smirked, “Oh- well, this isn’t over. It takes at least twenty minutes before she gets tired of it, so...”

“Should I keep drinking this?” Nines asked, looking to his empty cup.

“If you don’t mind,” Gavin sipped his own cup, making a mmm-sound much to his daughter’s happiness. He turned his attention back on Nines, “We are certainly not done enjoying the luxury of the upper class.”

“The cakes!” Eleanor suddenly shouted, placing the teapot on the table and running off to a little play kitchen that was positioned in the opposite corner of their tea party. She opened the oven, wafting away smoke that wasn’t there.

“Are they okay?” Gavin asked, “Have they burnt?”

“They- They’re fine!” She replied, pulling out three identical plastic muffins. She plopped one down on each of their plates, “It’s blueberry, Daddy’s favourite.”

Nines looked down at the plastic muffin before him, seeing no sign of blueberry at all. In fact, it looked like chocolate muffins, but his instincts told him not to mention it, especially because Detective Reed would most likely kill him if he tried to ruin the moment with being matter-of-fact. 

A part of him also knew to ignore the instinct because ignoring it to play along would actually be more  _ fun _ . Yes, he said it; he was enjoying this a lot and not only because playing with a child stimulated and enhanced his imagination skills. It was enjoyable and it was time with Reed in a way that he never thought he would get.

Nines reached for the muffin, lifting it to his mouth but was stopped mid-bite by Eleanor’s tiny hand clutching his wrist. She had a devilish smile on her lips, looking from her father to him a few times, “A true princess has servants to do everything.”

“Servants? But where are they?” Nines asked, setting the cake down on his plate once again.

Eleanor looked around for a moment, realising that she had no more toys left. She then pointed to her father, “You’re the servant!”

Nines had to reach up and cover his mouth as not to start laughing, watching Gavin’s expression turn sour at the sudden demand. He knew best not to protest, just like Nines had known not to either, and threw his hands up in the air in defeat. He got up from his chair, “And what does your highness want her humble servant to do?”

“Feed us cake,” she ordered, pointing to tiny plastic forks that matched the rest of the tea set. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking impatient, and waited.

“Yes, peasant,” Nines added, mirroring Eleanor, “Can’t you see we are starving?”

Gavin sighed and the scene started playing. Nines watched as he knelt in front of his daughter, pretending to shovel a piece of muffin onto a little plastic fork and feeding it to her. He received a squeal of delight and a smile that nearly reached her ears, and it was clear that it was a reward to him because the detective’s features softened and his eyes shone in a way that Nines couldn’t categorise as anything other than pure love, if he ever saw it.

“Now the other princess,” she dictated, pointing to Nines and watching expectantly, “It’s very important!”

Gavin cleared his throat, and the android detected a faint blush on his cheeks, “Don’t you think Cyber Princess can eat by himself?”

“No!” Eleanor sounded almost offended at the suggestion.

“Come on, Servant Reed,” Nines joked, beckoning him closer with a finger, “I promise I don’t bite.”

Gavin hesitated for a moment but then ever so carefully approached him. He knelt down beside him, repeating everything just the same as he had done with his daughter, though it was most likely to not get ordered around again.  _ What a parent won’t do for their child _ , Nines thought to himself as he watched Gavin come closer,  _ even putting away their pride to make them happy. Fascinating. _

Something shifted in the air when Gavin was finally knelt down in front of him and when Nines realised suddenly that they had not been this close before. He had always thought to himself that humans were so alike when you glanced at them but when he could get this close to one, see their face as individual parts and not just as a whole, he realised that it was very much not the case. Sure, they all had the same attributes like eyes, nose, mouth; all the things that androids were modelled after but when Gavin was right next to him, he could see that the pattern of his freckles, all 37 of them, were as unique as his fingerprints would be. 

He categorised what he could analyse in the short amount of time they would be eye to eye like this; how many freckles and eyelashes, the colour of his eyes, the scar on his nose and how deep the cut that had caused it had been… Not that he could use it for anything but a part of him felt it necessary, felt it fitting to put it in the box with  _ Detective Gavin Reed _ on it. 

And then Gavin did something that made Nines feel as if his thirium pump was going to malfunction and shut him down; he winked at him whilst grinning. The thought about how he had never earned a toothy smile from his partner returned when he came to the realisation that it was happening. This was a key point in their partnership, something he had unlocked, achieved.

Nines smiled back at him, an urge to look down washing over him. He almost felt overwhelmed, too unfamiliar with the reaction to simply seeing the teeth of his partner in a gesture that was associated with happiness. How odd but also how achingly fantastic. 

The moment was over quickly though, when Eleanor yawned quietly, making Gavin’s focus shift in less than a second. Nines had to tell himself that he wasn’t disappointed but despite his limited knowledge about children, he knew that it was way past her bedtime, and she was bound to crash soon.

“You getting tired, Ellie-bear?” Gavin asked, straightening to get to his daughter. He knelt down to run a hand over her hair, “It looks like you’re ready for bed.”

“No,” she protested, quiet voice betraying her. 

“I think playtime is over, yeah?” He got up and reached for her, lifting her up onto his hip and suddenly, Eleanor seemed to have given up completely on trying to argue that she still wanted to keep playing. She was actually resting her head on his shoulder, eyes blinking. 

“Is there anything I can do?” Nines took off the paper hat.

“I have to get this one ready for bed, let’s continue tomorrow?” Gavin had forgotten his own headpiece. Nines didn’t have the heart to mention it.

“Tomorrow is your day off, Detective,” the android reminded him.

“Yeah? So? Can you be here or not?” He smirked. 

“Oh, in that case,” Nines said, “Yes. It’s not like I have other business to attend to.”

“Good, I’ll see you,” he started walking out of the room but turned around half-way, “Oh, can you let yourself out? Thanks.”

Gavin left the room. Nines left the apartment, a part of him wishing he didn’t have to. 


	2. Chapter 2

The door in front of Nines was the door to Gavin’s place but unlike previous encounters with said door, Nines simply opened it and walked inside without question. It had become some sort of ritual by now; go to work with Gavin, work on cases with Gavin and now also go to Gavin’s place after work and  _ hang out _ as the detective put it. 

Nines had felt a change in their dynamic after that very first evening that the detective had introduced him to a very vulnerable part of his life. It was special, he knew, because no one at the police station seemed to know that Gavin was a father and he seemed not to make any suggestion that he wanted that to change.

It was the first time that Nines was included in on a secret too, something that he took upon himself to treat with both care and pride, especially if it meant that their partnership would gain a new facet that would eventually lead to what he assumed by now was friendship… Or was it? Nines knew enough about human relations that the long glances, the small touches when they were looking at leads together, becoming so close to Reed and his daughter was something that was worth more than just that of a friendship. 

It had been a few months after all, and the incidents where he felt the detective’s hand on his body had only increased in frequency. He could count at least around a hundred different occasions that his synthetic skin had heated up at contact, thirium pumping so fast in his body that he was sure he had to check for broken components.

Still, he decided not to think too much of it and took what he could get from the new, more relaxed atmosphere around the two of them. Additionally, this also meant that he had gotten more time with Gavin’s daughter than he expected, and he had grown closer to the small human known as Eleanor. He could safely say that he enjoyed the time that he could spend at Gavin’s place, partaking in whatever shenanigans Eleanor had planned and whilst it was still a lot to wrap his head around, he tried to meet her with the same level of enthusiasm as she had. 

“Nines!” Eleanor ran up to him as he closed the door, and he responded by patting her on the head as she wrapped her arms around his body. She was wearing glasses today, but Nines concluded they were not for her vision as they were comically big, round and blue with no real lenses in them. 

“Ms. Reed,” he teased, “And what are we doing today? I can’t help but notice your new accessory.” 

She took a step back to look up at him but then grabbed at his hand to drag him along down the hall, “It’s Doctor Eleanor today.”

“Oh?” He was already amused. 

“Daddy got me a doctor’s kit yesterday, wanna play?” She was determined to reach her room, most likely not taking no for an answer but Nines hadn’t even said hello to Gavin yet. He wondered where the detective had hidden but the more obvious answer was that he, too, had been dragged into Eleanor’s universe against his will.

Nines’ suspicion was right. Gavin was lying on the floor with his eyes closed as they entered the pink room. He was playing the patient apparently, and Eleanor had certainly taken good care of him because he had a band-aid on his sweater, one more on his forehead and lastly one around his finger. 

Gavin opened one eye to look up at them, sending Nines a warm smile and then winking which made the android think he was going to trip over his own two feet. One of the downsides to deviation: A person could make you feel like someone was running a mile inside you and you could barely register why that was. It made you so  _ human,  _ so flawed and more than what was supposed to be perfect coding. 

“Hey,” Gavin finally said, and Nines was brought back to the world and began to smile, “I’m technically not allowed to say anythi-“

“Daddy! You’re asleep!” Eleanor said, walking to stand beside him and reaching up to close his eyes.

“Right! Yes,” he followed orders, going quiet and lying very still on the floor. Nines could see he was fighting a smile. 

“Excuse me, Doctor Eleanor, if you could tell me my part, so I can start preparing,” Nines politely said, already kneeling down to get to her level.

She turned to him, putting on a shocked face to suit the situation, “You’re a very good surgeon! We must hurry! The patient has a broken heart, he needs us quickly!” 

“Ellie, I don’t actually think you can operate on heartbreak,” he tried but it occurred to him that Eleanor had no medical knowledge in that area because of her age. She was simply following her own logic.

Nines could download guides on heart surgery down in mere minutes, but he came to the realisation that he needed to make something up  _ quickly _ . He sat down beside Gavin, putting a hand on his chest and nodding, “I can feel it. It is my conclusion that it’s definitely sounding… sad.” 

“What do we do?!” Eleanor clutched her own chest but then scrambled to her doctor’s kit. Its content was scattered around it, but she managed to find the stethoscope. She battered Nines’ hand away and listened thoroughly, being silent for several seconds. 

“I can hear it! Oh no, Doctor Nines! It is sad!” She exclaimed. 

“You know,” Nines tried his best to find a solution that would suit a child’s logic but then it hit him. He swallowed, “The best cure would be… Love. Don’t you think so?”

He briefly looked down at Gavin, but he wasn’t smiling anymore, eyes still closed but vitals not low enough to be asleep. Nines wished that he had the same kind of telepathy with humans that he did with other androids because he was dying to know what was going on in Gavin’s head.

“Love,” Eleanor weighed the idea, “So do you mean that the surgeon and patient fall in love?” 

“I think that would be highly unprofessional,” Nines wasn’t quite sure why his thirium pump started going crazy but he found himself  _ stuttering _ all of a sudden, “O-or, you know, you could just, you know, give him a hug.”

“No, my idea was better,” Eleanor said with confidence, and then started poking at her dad, “Wake up!”

Gavin took a moment before he opened his eyes and sat up. He yawned and stretched, “My my, must’ve fallen asleep for real.”

Nines knew that was simply not the truth. He knew what Gavin’s vitals were when he slept from days when they had done crazy amounts of overtime at the station.  _ Why was he lying? _

“You have been cured by true love!” Eleanor squealed, “Kiss!”

Both Nines’ and Gavin’s eyebrows shot up, and they looked at each other before looking back at Eleanor. Nines felt strangely okay with the situation.

“Ellie,” Gavin looked embarrassed about his daughter’s bluntness, “You cannot make people kiss if they don’t want it.” 

“Why not?” Eleanor looked displeased. “You’re not fighting, are you?”

“No,” Gavin tried again, “But we don’t know if Nines would be okay with this… Not that I’m okay with this! I just mean that Nines is our guest and we cannot make our guests uncomfortable.”

“I’m not uncomfortable,” Nines said without thinking.

“See? He is not uncomfortable!” Eleanor repeated, looking at her dad with triumph. She egged on, “We will lose the patient, Daddy!”

“Fine, but only on the cheek then,” the detective gave in, “Got it?”

Eleanor clapped her hands together, motioning for Nines to go on, who was suddenly dreading the situation. He couldn’t back out in fear of one of Eleanor’s tantrums, but his pump was working so fast that he thought he was going to spontaneously shut down. 

Nines carefully scooted closer, moving slowly as if he was approaching something, he didn't want to flee from him. Gavin’s skin was radiating warmth which Nines could feel against his lips the closer he got. 

The android could see the slight scruff on Gavin’s jaw and cheek, hinting that he had had little time to shave in the last few days. As Nines pressed his own lips to his cheek, he could feel the prickle against his mouth. He categorised it, figured that it would be what humans called tickling.

Nines lingered, closed his eyes. He held his breath, causing his insides to overheat more than usual and if Gavin noticed, the secret would no more be a secret.

It made him pull away as quickly as possible, but the eye contact that Gavin made sure to gain with him was agonising in its intensity. There was something there. Something that none of them had dared to put into words, and all it took was a four-year-old girl to tell on them in her own way. 

“Right!” Gavin was the first to break eye contact, clasping his hands together, “Playtime is over!”

Nines got up from the floor, ready to run away from the situation but Eleanor luckily stole the picture again.

“Aww,” she complained, “But they were getting married.”

“We can continue another day,” Gavin said, getting up from the floor as well. He ruffled her hair, smiling, “What about some dinner?”

“Can we have pancakes?” Eleanor blinked up at him. 

“No, but we can have leftovers from yesterday,” Gavin reached out for her hand.

“Can’t we have something else?” She hesitated to take his hand but eventually did.

“Ellie, I don’t hav-“ 

“I can fix her something to eat,” Nines suggested, “If you have stuff to do.”

“Really?” Gavin looked grateful at the offer, nodding eagerly, “Yeah!  _ Yeah _ , uhm, I think we have stuff for mac and cheese in the fridge. I could really use your help, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t,” Nines smiled gently, reaching out for Eleanor to take his hand instead, “Go on, I’ll fix it.”

“Thank you, Nines. I owe you.”

* * *

Nines wasn’t an android made for caretaking and housekeeping, but he could download a recipe down in mere seconds. It couldn’t be hard to use a stove.

He picked Eleanor up to carry her on his arm, walking to the kitchen as Gavin walked to the bathroom. It seemed like laundry was due and a more pressing matter than cooking from scratch, so Nines felt happy to help if it meant that Eleanor wouldn’t give him a hard time by demanding other than leftovers.

“How do you like your macaroni and cheese?” He asked after putting Eleanor down on the kitchen counter. 

Eleanor dangled her legs, looking down at them before grinning, “Daddy likes you.”

“What?” Nines hadn’t foreseen that coming. He stopped what he was doing, losing grip on the refrigerator door’s handle. 

“He talks about you  _ aaaall _ the time,” she continued, “I have talked to Miss Green from school, she says that’s what people do when they like-like someone.”

“Like-like?” Nines was puzzled as he started cooking dinner, mindlessly measuring up the ingredients and proceeding to create a dish without any signs that it was his first time.

“Yes,” Eleanor replied, “So are you gonna get married and have babies?”

Nines had to chuckle at that, cheeks going slightly red as he felt his pulse quicken. He was actually blushing at the thought. It was sure to give him away, “I don’t think that’s how it works, Ms. Reed.”

“See! You like him too!” Eleanor pointed at him, “You’re red in the face! Just like daddy!”

Wait what? He was  _ blushing _ now?

“Shhh…” Nines was scared that Gavin would hear the conclusion that she’d made with triumph, “I think it’s best if Daddy tells me himself, don’t you think?”

“Can’t you tell him?” Eleanor asked, whispering loudly.

It hit Nines that Eleanor was right. Why didn’t  _ he _ tell Gavin?

* * *

When Nines had fed Eleanor, he checked in on Gavin who seemed to still be neck-deep in dirty clothes. It made the android decide to help with putting the detective’s daughter to bed, and the eyes he received from his partner were pleading and grateful yet again.

He left the bathroom and entered the pink bedroom again to find Eleanor in her nightgown. She looked tired and ready to collapse, so he tucked her in nicely and decided to skip any demand for tooth brushing. 

“Are you gonna tell him?” Eleanor yawned quietly, a teddy bear in the crook of her arm. 

“Maybe,” Nines said truthfully.

“You can’t say maybe, you  _ have  _ to say yes or no,” she complained, turning onto her side to look at him better, “It’s important.”

“Whatever the doctor says,” Nines smiled, walking towards the door, “I’ll leave the door ajar. And yes, I’ll tell him.”

“Goodnight, Nines.”

“Goodnight, Ellie.”

Nines pulled the door nearly shut. As he walked to tiptoe out of the apartment, Gavin entered the hallway and nearly bumped into him.

“You’re leaving?” The detective asked.

“Yeah, I thought I’d give you some time to finish things up before tomorrow’s work,” Nines replied, walking towards the front door.

“Oh,” Gavin followed him all the way to the door, “Fair enough, yeah. I’ve got things to do. Let me follow you out though.”

Nines opened the door, walking out but immediately turning around to face him. Eleanor’s request was in his head, making him ponder if this was the right time to just get it out in the open. It had been nagging at him for a while now, and he simply just had to know if he was seeing things or there was actually  _ something  _ about the way they danced around each other.

“Detective Reed, I want to-“

Softness. Warmth. Scruff. Nines was frozen, both from a tremendous amount of fear but also excitement. Gavin Reed was kissing him, and this time, properly on the lips in what was not as innocent a way as what they’d done earlier. This ignited something that had been lurking under the surface, and instinctively Nines put a hand on Gavin’s chest as Gavin put a hand on the back of the android’s head. 

Nines found himself so completely unprepared. Despite how many days and nights they’d spent together on duty, despite how many times he had researched this part of human nature, and despite how many times he had caught himself staring at Gavin Reed’s mouth, he still couldn’t have guessed that the detective’s lips were this warm, this comforting in the way they moved against his own. 

Nines curled his fingers in the fabric of Gavin’s shirt, holding onto him for just a moment so he could savour what was happening and put the newfound experience into the man’s folder. He leaned in when he tried to pull away but eventually had to give in to the fact that the kiss was over. He was speechless. 

“I just wanted to try, you know, the real deal,” Gavin eventually said with cheeks tinted pink. He let out a soft and embarrassed chuckle, clearly trying to read his android partner for any signs of horror.

“Gavin.”

“You’ve never said my name,” Gavin looked surprised, “Is that good or bad?”

“Gavin.”

“I know, I just had to-“

Nines interrupted him by holding a hand over his mouth, “No, I loved it.”

Gavin reached up to peel the hand away from mouth. He hesitated a moment before looking up at him through his lashes, “Wanna come in?” 


End file.
